Hole No. 18 at Glen Arven

THOMASVILLE — The 94th Annual Piney Woods Invitational, the oldest continuous amateur golf tournament in the south, begins play today with the first golfers teeing off at 7:30 a.m. One of the strongest fields ever will play Glen Arven Country Club’s course, which underwent a complete restoration in 2014.

First played in 1919, the same year Flowers Baking Company first started operations in downtown Thomasville, the Piney Woods Invitational has attracted a number of famous golfers from many parts of the country including PGA tour winners Doug Sanders, Bert Yancy, Tommy Barnes and Kenny Knox.

Augusta resident Frank Mulherin won the Piney Woods a record six times starting with his first title at age 33 and his last at age 60. Other multiple Piney Woods winners include George Converse (five wins including a three-peat), Billy Oliver and Frank Eldridge (four times).

Warren Mays, Jr., of Thomasville, whose father was a teaching pro, won the coveted Piney Woods title in 1964.

“It was a really big deal back then,” Mays said. “I played in it every year. Frank Mulherin used to come down from Augusta and play. It was match play during those years and we used to play 36 holes on Sunday (two matches). It was hot since it was around the Fourth of July and we walked.

“The year I won, my final match was against Frank and we were on No. 8 tee and a storm came up and we had to go under the shed there and wait it out. I was nervous and that gave me a chance to calm my nerves. Well, the same thing happened on No. 14 tee giving me a chance to relax again. We got to No. 18 green and Frank three-putted, I parred and I won by a stroke.”

Winners of the event from Thomasville were very few in the early days of the tournament. R.P. Wimberly and Dr. Charles Watt, Sr. also won. The tournament is now a medal format, featuring two-man teams, and has seen current club president Bill Hodges win or medal in five of the last seven events.

What began originally as a park with carriage riding trails in 1888, Glen Arven was named after then-owner J. Wyman Jones’ mother, Ruth Arven. The ‘Old Course’ as it was originally called, was laid out on the 300 acres of Glen Arven Park by Willie Stark, a native of St. Andrews, Scotland. John Van Kleek completed a design of the 18-hole championship layout in 1929 and had it ready for play in 1930, measuring 6,531 yards from the blue tees.

This year’s tournament participants and invited guests will enjoy a format of both a 36-hole Four Ball Championship with a simultaneous contest for low individual score for both rounds (medalist). The low 15 gross scores and ties from the Championship Flights after one round will compete for the Piney Woods Low Medalist title.

Current standouts in the field of 148 this year include 1986 U.S. Men’s Amateur winner Buddy Alexander and former University of Georgia stars Jack Larkin and Peter Persons.

Glen Arven Pro Bill Connally, who serves as the tournament director, said two United States Golf Association (USGA) rules officials will be on hand during the tournament.

“We have a very competitive championship flight and a new senior championship flight,” he said.

Assisting Connally with the tournament’s planning were committee members Brett Kiefer and Josh Cone. Cone is a Thomasville native and Mercer University golf team alum and will be among those in the Championship Flight.

The courses’ restoration was designed by renowned golf architect Bob Cupp, who worked for Jack Nicklaus Design. The improvements include new turf and re-sculpting of fairways, re-contouring and re-seeding the greens, and the lengthening of several holes to bring the total length of the course to 6,950 yards from the black tees. A number of cart paths were re-routed and rebuilt to improve the aesthetics of the course. Additionally, a modern practice area with new chipping greens, a 150-yard pitching range was established on the courses’ old practice range and a state-of-the-art learning center was added which features video swing analysis and the ability to receive instruction indoors during inclement weather.